Veteran Gurkha soldiers and members of the Nepali community in Hong Kong joined their former comrades in London in a day of protest yesterday to demand full pensions for service and the right to settle in the Britain.

The rituals of Gurkha recruitment have changed only gradually over the years. But the nervous candidates competing for a place in the prestigious unit this week are likely to serve in a radically altered Brigade of Gurkhas.

IN A BARE training hall in Yuen Long, some youngsters practise taekwondo while their instructor prepares a lesson. There's little about his slight build and unassuming manner to suggest it, but Khadka Raju is a black-belt exponent of the Korean martial art.

The Director of Immigration has been branded unreasonable after demanding a former Hong Kong Gurkha rifleman travel from Nepal to provide DNA evidence he is the father of a housewife seeking unconditional stay in the SAR.